A sample size of four faculty ultimately was achieved.
Written consent was obtained from each of the participants.
Participation was assured to be on a volunteer basis
and each participant was advised that she could have
resigned from the study at any time during the process.
To ensure confidentiality, the participants were identified
with both pseudonyms for themselves and for the schools
of nursing they were associated with. Their pseudonyms
were Amy, Betty, Carol, and Dana (see Table 1).
Collection of data was fourfold. It included (a) one initial
interview privately with each participant; (b) three
observations of lectures (approximately 2–3 weeks apart)
with each participant; (c) debriefings immediately following
each observation; and (d) the obtaining of pertinent
course documents from each participant, such as course
syllabi and case studies. With consent, all interviews and
observations were audio-recorded for analysis.
Bogdan and Biklen compared a case-study design with
that of a funnel [20]. At the top of the funnel, at its
broadest point, case-study research maintains a holistic
view. Data are collected by observing, interviewing, and
reviewing pertinent documents obtained from each case.
As the funnel begins to narrow in width, so does the
next step in a case-study design; thus, the tapering of
collected data is initiated. This narrowing of the data is
accomplished via coding.
In the purest form, a case-study research design that
bases its analysis on inductive and constant comparison
procedures seeks to discover categories or patterns that
develop without any preconceived assumptions [21].
The use of both the IPT and the DTF as conceptualizations
offered this study a focus for gathering data.
Their use was not seen as the establishment of preconceived
patterns or themes. Their ideologies were utilized
as a supportive framework for data collection rather
than a tool for compartmentalization of data. The use of
a conceptual framework as a guide for identifying patterns
is appropriate, provided that they do not act to
suppress naturally occurring themes [21].
Case-study qualitative research is based on the ideology
of a postpositivism viewpoint. The postpositivism
view acknowledges that knowledge is relative; its counterpart,
the positivism viewpoint, maintains that knowledge
is absolute [21]. Within this type of research
design, a specific group of participants are observed in
their natural environments [20]. This study observed in
an unobtrusive manner the naturally occurring events
that took place in California baccalaureate schools of
nursing while effective nurse educators taught their
didactic nursing courses. The methodological underpinnings
of this study were based on reality-focuse